Jean Claude Abedi, Kristian Jamal Lee, Will Daniel Smith, and Caleb Thorpe all face charges that include first-degree rape in the alleged Halloween locker room attack against their own teammates on the Damascus JV football team. All four victims are freshman at the school and were considered “soft” by the suspects. The fifth suspect is facing these charges in juvenile court. Arrest documents detailing the incident that led to the arrests reveal gruesome allegations of beatings and violent sexual assaults.
John McCarthy, Montgomery County State’s Attorney stated, “I am offended by the term — it is not hazing — these are crimes and I wouldn’t want anyone to refer to this as hazing — these boys were victims of criminal acts — they were not victims of hazing, they were victims of first degree rape and attempted rape.” The assaults came to light when the father of a victim found him sobbing in his room later that night. He immediately called the coaches, who notified the principal. One victim told the police, the lights suddenly went off inside the locker room and, “J.C. Abedi and K.J. Lee grabbed another victim by the shoulders and threw him on the floor.
One of them held his feet down and while he was faced down on the ground, his pants were pulled down and he was ‘poked in his buttocks with the wooden broom.’” According to the police, the other three victims were attacked in a similar way. Investigators say in arrest documents, “Victim C said after they finished with him, they proceeded to Victim A, where they pulled his sweatshirt over the top of his head, punched him in the face, knocked him on his back, and stomped on him.” The documents says defendant, Will Smith, told law enforcement that “the broom”, as he called it, had been used for generations. McCarthy said no other victims, even from prior years, have come forward.
To learn more about the legality of rape, click here.